A Han Solo & Boba Fett Spin-Off?

I remember feverishly flicking through every movie magazine as a kid full of expectant hope, new hope that I’d read the news that George Lucas was planning a new Star Wars movie following Return Of The Jedi.

Of course that news took 16 f**king years to break and by then I was older, bitter and far too cynical to even moderately enjoy the car wreck that was The Phantom Menace.

My disposition hasn’t changed, but what has altered is the frequency and volume of planned Star Wars movies following that trilogy which we shall never speak of again. After the huge sale of all things Lucas to Disney, last year, the Internet rumour mill has been spinning out of control like a large hamster ball powered by…a large hamster, over what films will be made, who will direct them and when they’ll be released.

This week news broke that not only are there to be three new Star Wars movies but there’s also two separate films, stand-alones from the new trilogy, in the Hollywood pipeline. Even if you’re to take all the Internet chatter and rumours about these films with a pinch of salt it appears that a young Han solo movie and a Boba Fett flick are being worked on as I type this out.

So, what do we know so far? Well, Disney have officially confirmed they are working on some non-trilogy spin-off movies, (maybe more than two), and that writers Lawrence Kasden and Simon Kinberg have been hired to pen two of them. Entertainment Weekly are claiming their sources have revealed the origin story of Han Solo and a bounty hunting adventure with Boba Fett are already in the planning stages

The Han Solo story would take place in the time period between Revenge of the Sith and the first Star Wars (now known as A New Hope). […] The Boba Fett film would take place either between A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back, or between Empire and Jedi, where the bounty hunter was last seen plunging unceremoniously into a sarlacc pit. [Ed.- THIS SHOULD NOT BE A SPOILER.] Exactly who would play him isn’t much of a complication – in the original trilogy, he never took off his helmet. And in the prequels, we learned he was the son of the original stormtrooper clone, played by Temuera Morrison, who’s still the right age for the part if his services were required. [EW]

That’s pretty much it. No word on the involvement of specific directors or actors. The only troubling aspect, for me at least, with a portion of this rumour fuelled news is the ‘young Han Solo’ proposed movie. Please, for the love of God, don’t make this film into a young Anakin Skywalker 2.0 version, with an adorable Disney child robot zipping about the galaxy in his fun-size Millenium Falcon. If that happens I shall wash my hands and never return.